Process of producing and preparing ingots for working



June 12, 1928.

2 Sheets-Sheet Original Filed Dec. 15, 1923 INVENTOR A'I'l' NEY June 12, 1928. I

' P. EYERMANN PROCESS 'OF PRODUCING AND PREPARING INGO'IS FOR WORKING 2 sheets-sheet Original Filed Dec. 15, 1925 K1 INVENTOR ATTORNEY Patented June 12,6

UNlTE D STATES Y PATENT OFFICE.

PETER EYERMANN, OF VIENNA, AUSTRIA, ASSIGNOR TO MAJOR I. MCGREIGHT, OF

DU BOIS, PENNSYLVANIA, AND REMBRANDT PEALE, JR., OF ST. BENEDICT, PENN- SYLVANIA.

PROCESS OF PRODUCING AND PREPARING INGOTS FOR WORKING.

Original application filed December 15,1923, Serial No. 680,844. Divided and this application filed .Ianuary 9, 1925.

billets, or the like, in steel and other metal.

working establishments; and morepartictu larly it is directed to casting ingots, or other like units, in such form that the inipuritics containedin the fluent metal, -or imperfections due to the pouring or casting, are thrown or deposited in certain orspecific extraneous port ions oi the ingot and to.

then removing the undesirable or imperfect portions of the ingot together with a practical n'nnlmum of metal from the ingot. The

invention is further directed to producing a controller for the cutting or other equiva lent metal removing operation, and to a mechanism cooperating with the controlling for the purpose stated.

This application is a pending application, Serial No.

5 December 15,1923.

In the drawings, illustrating one apparatus for carrying out the process:

Fig. 1 is a perspective of one preferred form of metal ingots;

) Fig. 2 is a section taken on line 2-2 of Fig. 1; p a

Fig. 3 is an illustrative diagram showing one torm of rough and finished ingot; Fig. 4, is a top plan of a lathe mechanism adapted for use in carrying out one step of the invention;

Fig. ,5 is a side elevation looking at Fig. 1 from the bottom of the sheet; and

division of my co- 680,84 l, filed Fig. 6 is a partial elevation looking at V seams by reducing strains and stresses dur- Figs. 2 and 3 fromthc left on line 6-6 of Fig. 5.

It is known in metallurgical industry that non-cylindrical ingots possess valuable practical advantagesover cylindrical ingots, except possibly in some narrow classes of special work. The term non-cylindrical as applied to ingots, billets, and the like, will be understood as including not only foursided shapes, but others including those having several faces and edges, the later usually rounded, and having both angular and elliptical or irregular sections. The term may be further applied to ingot-s and billets Serial No. 1,451. a

elminate the impurities existent in the fluent metal or arising from the pouring or casting of the fluent metal into the ingot or other form. r

Certain preparatory work upon ingots and billets has been either suggested or practiced, but with objectives other than those of any invention and without realizing the advantages and results thereof. As

an example, for the purpose of avoiding formation of seams by undue stresses in the rolled product during rolling, the ingot or billet would be shaped or planed beforehand, preparatory to rolling, to a preliminary ,t'orm of such section or sections as would be the same as or similar to a finished mill product.

It has also been suggested or practiced, in order to eliminate surface defects, in products rolled from cylindrical or like ingots, to turn them on lathes bct'orc rolling, and it has also been proposed, at least, that suchingots while still warm or red hot should be milled or otherwise cut to cylindrical or analogous intermediate shapes, preparatory to being rolled.

The first mentioned of these two proc-' ess es aims only to avoid the formation of ing the rolling, but usually fails to attain this result in a satlsfactory way.

The 'second of these processes effects no increase in percentage of the useful or available weight of finished rolled product, as through the milling of the ingots in a red hot condition the location of the defects in the ingots are obliterated or covered over, and thereby an efiective examination of the ingot or billlet as regards its purity and freedom from defects, which is a primary condition for the increase of output aimed at, is rendered impossible. The mere turning of cylindrical, or analogous ingots, is primarily available for very few qualities of steel and these are very limited in commercial use, and there is also a practical i-ially for high quality steel and other metal work, the inspections at the different. stages from the original ingot or billet up to the completion of the finished product, are exceedingly rigorous and thorough, during the various steps or processes of manufacturing, and there is consequently a relatively very high percentage of rejections as defects are rendered apparent during the various sequential steps and processes. There is conseqnently but a very small percentage of the original pieces which are passed for the final product. For these reasons, manufacturers have accepted and used to a certain extent cylindrical or analogousshapings, because these could be machined on ordinary lathes, and thereby the advantages of the non-cylindrical ingots were lost notwithstanding that ,7 this latter form is otherwise preferred, having other and further advantages of numeron-s kinds which are generally known to steel inanufiictnrers.

By the present invention, it is possible to use the non-cylindrical ingots and to remove the larger proportion, and practically to eliminate, impurities and defects by cutting or otherwise removing the exterior impurity bearing parts. Great advantages are also realized in the matter of theweight of the ingots and the general handling of the work;

This

in the mills or shops throughout.

. goes back even so far as the open hearth or crucible furnace. or the like, influencing the chemical analysis of the charge or heat.

By my invention the non-cylindrical in-' gots and billets are worked,preferably in a cold state so that practically all the impurities are cut away or otherwise removed while removing the minimum of metal from the ingot or billet. More in detail the ingots or billets are worked up to such an extent in a cold state into similarly shaped but not geometrically similar non-cylindrial intermediate products. a The most a d vantageous cross-section forsuch intermediate machined product is one which is similar either to the section of the raw ingot, billet or the like, or to the section of the rolled or forged product, but not geometrically simi- More in detail. by actual observation and cxpe1-ieuce,'it is found when casting non-circular, four or more sided ingots, or equivarava es pletely removed than the intervening side surfaces (lying nearer the .centeror the axis), practically all of the impurities and defects are thereby removed, and this is effected with a min-imuin sacrifice of sound or good metal.

This is preferably done by automatically i'nachining the ingot in -a cold state on a lathe, with rotating work or a rotating tool, and preferably with the cutting or equivalent means controlled in its operation by a controller or pattern, shaped or otherwise designed or adapted to effect the desired result.

It has'been' ascertained by actual mill ex- Y perience that despite the apparent. loss of weight through this cutting off or removal of material from the surface portions of the ingot, and which amount in actual practice in many cases is from three to twelve acceptable and saleable products isvery appreciably increased, and the number of recctions resulting from subsequent inspections is greatly minimized and sometimes entirely eliminated.

On the other hand,,in ingots, or the like, of cylindrical or approximately cylindrical section, the defects distribute themselves over the entire section in an unequal and unknown manner, and the deepest machiningof ingots of this form consequently gives no assurance of the total or satisfactory removal of defects and impurities. The practical result is, that plants which have-hitherto, due to conservative conditions, ad-

hered to the use of cylindrical ingots, or

which have used unmachined or untreated non-cylindrical ingots, can by my process secure an outputof finished product of high quality of a greatly increased ratio over previous practice. On the average inmany plants, this increase will amount to from five to twenty-five per cent of finished perfect products over results secured by the old method.

In practical commercial metallurgical andmetal work this process is carried out by automatic mechanism, which removes the impurities and defective material until the intermediate products are free therefrom, and the intermediate products are then finper cent, that the resulting percentage of ishedin the usual forging. The carrying out of the invention will, there fore,-be described in connection with a' mechanism adapted for this purpose, the novel features of the mechanism and of certain instrumentalities. employed therewith, mainly the controlling instrumentality for the cutting means, also constituting features of my invention.

In the preferred embodiment and manner of carryingout my invention, theingot or billet is placed in a'lathe wherein the work is preferably rotated past. a non-rotating,

longitudinally traveling cutting tool, a,con

troller controlling the position of the cutter so 'as't {impart to the ingot' or billet the,

way, as by rolling or desired shape whereby the in'ipuri'ties ,an'd

defects are. eliminated'by a minimum removal of metal from the ingot or billet.

" The present preferred embodiment of the controlling means consists of a pa1iirn.mem+ .be'r, rotating equally orsynchronousiy, with 4 Y the ingot or billet and controlling the movement of the cutter.

Referring now in detail to an illustrative embodiment of a lathe and a controlling instrumentality in connection with carrying out the invention, a mechanism is provided wherein an ingot 1 of such general crosssection as Willthrow or locate during the casting and cooling the greatest part of 1 the defects and impurities into parts of the ingot or billet' farthest removed from its general axis, the illustrated form being foursided. I

The ingot 1, in the present preferred form of practicing the invention, is rotated in a lathe or equivalent mechanism, and for this purposeis carried between a tail'stock- 2 mounted upon the bed 4 of the lathe, and having a centering device 5, centrally ongaging the ingot 1,. all of whichconstruction may be of any standard or. -suitable form.

The ingot is supported at its'other end by a face plate 9 provided with chucks 10 engaging and holding the ingot, the shaft 8 of the face plate being journaled in a head stock 11,- mounted upon the bed plate 4, the shaft being provided with a pulley drive I 12. This mechanism may likewise be of any convenient or suitable form. v

In the embodied form of controller for removing-the impurity and defect containing portions from the ingot or billet or the like with-"the greatest economy of metal, I prefer to use a pattern ingot or "billet, although 1 other forms of controller might be employed,

so far as concerns the broader aspects of the invention, such as a jacquardfor perforated sheet"? or other suitableprf standard form. As here embodied, a' pattern 16 is used, which is of or approximately of, the form and shape of the prepared ingot and is usually and preferably of similar align lar form, but with the corners or edges more rounded, or of less radius, than the ingot and 23, which may optionally have adjustin'g devices 24 and 25.

The shaft 17 and therewith the controller 16 are rotated synchronously with the lngot '1, for the purposes already'stated' The pator billet 1, and for this purpose a gear wheel 25, fixed on shaft 17 is in mesh with gear wheel 26 fixed on the shaft of the face plate 9. Thus 'the b/i'llet1 and the pattern 16 will rotatesynchronously and svm'metricall'y to get'heirthat IS the cutter, will be at the same or corresponding; on the ingot as the detectorcontrolling the positionof the out ter will have on" the pattern When-that "form of the controller is used.

Means are provided by the invention for cutting away the external portions of the ingot or billet to correspond to the shape of the controller 16, and as embodied, a. cutter 30 is removably mounted in fixed osition upon the carriage 31, andis held in position by suitable means, such as clamping screws 32 and 33, and its immediate carrier 28 is adjustable by a hand wheel 29. The carriage is mounted upon guideways 35 disposed lon' itudinally on the bed plate .4, and

a longitu inal feed for thecarriage is provided, such as a part 36, which is internallyscrew-threaded upon a screw shaft 37,

mounted to rotate in suitable bearings upon the machine frame, and rotated in proper relation to the turning mechanism. The foregoing mechanism is preferably'of any stand-' ard or suitable form'for imparting the continuous and gradual longitudinal feed to the cutter 3O along-the ingot or billet 1.

Means are provided for automatically controlling the position of the cutter transversely' or'radially to Conform to the shape or equivalent requirements of the controller. As embodied, a roller 42 has its shaft 43 rotativ'ely mounted in bearings in arms 44 and 45 of a plate 46, upon which the tool carrier 28 is immediately mounted. The plate 46 is providedat its external end with a crosshead 49,, in the ends of which are mounted, respectively, two rods 50 and 51 held in place by nuts 52 and 53, screwed on the ends of the rods, respectively. The rods are. longitudinally slidably mounted in lugs 54 and '55 .fixed upon the carriage frame, and at their forward ends are also longitudinally slidably mounted in lugs 56 and 57 mounted upon the plate or carriage 46.

The means for resiliently pressing the roller 42' against the 'patern 16 comprises helical springs 59 and 60, about rods 50 and chined or otherwise treated billet and the informity with the indications or requirements of the controller 16.

Referring to the explanatory and exemplary diagram of Fig. 3, the exterior outline a ma be taken as re resentin a crosssection of the raw ingot, and the defects and impurities will he'mainly if not entirely def posited in the corner or edge portions 0. The arearepresented by b may be taken as a typical corresponding cross-section of the 1natervening area between a and Z) will'be a corresponding cross-sectional representation of the removed portions of the ingot, Wherehy all. or practically all, of the defects and impurities will be removed, with a minimum removal of the sound metal from the ingot.

It will be understood that the diagrams and the references hereinto percentages and quantities, as well as other details, are exemplary andexplaiiatory, but are not restrictive of the invention.

The invention in its broader aspects is not limited to the details of process nor to the specific mechanisms shown and described, butdepartures may be made. therefrom within the scope of the accompanying claim I without departing from the principles of the invention and without sacrificing its chief advantages.

What I claim is The process of producing and preparing an ingot for Working which comprises casting the ingot into a form having a polygonal cross section, with the longitudinal edges of the'ingot extending substantially throughout the entire lengththereof, permitting the ingot to cool, and then selectively cutting away the surface of said ingot so as to remove a minimum of sound metal by cutting away substantially only-the longitudinal edge portions, thus removing the greatest amount of defective metal.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my i name to this specification.

PETER EYERMANN. 

